


The Unclaimed

by Natasja



Series: Tales Untold and Legends Unsung [6]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Feels, Gen, demigods have parent issues, gods are deadbeat parents, not everyone saw Luke/Kronos as a villain, reasons the demigods joined Kronos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 06:24:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2378141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natasja/pseuds/Natasja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hundreds of Demigods felt hurt and abandoned by their parents. Most joined Kronos. Some did not.</p><p>Why did demigods join Kronos, when they knew he meant to overthrow the gods? Some had reasons, some were just angry and sick of being ignored. </p><p>In the end, were they betrayers, or betrayed?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. P

I forgive, and tell myself that it is alright that my divine parent did not claim me.

The attacks grew worse when I discovered who – what – I was, so surely my parent was ignoring me to protect me. Several demigods from the Ancient Legends became insufferably arrogant when they discovered their heritage, so perhaps my godly mother was trying to spare me that.

Gods are busy, so better to be content with what the world gains through their attention than to grow bitter about the lack of attention paid to me personally.

When my mortal father told me what I was, I refused to believe it, so perhaps the same thing had happened enough times that my mother wished to spare herself the pain. Demigods weren't the only ones who could feel rejection, after all.

My mother is Eirene, Peace, and a dyslexic, ADHD demigod child, whose very presence attracts danger, is the exact opposite for all she embodies. From that perspective, I might be surprised if she _did_ claim me.

 

Pretty lies, to sooth a wounded heart, but even that could only stifle the truth I had always known for a little while.

Perhaps it is my mother who makes me so accepting, whose heritage is why I find it so hard to lash out in anger or hurl accusations meant to wound, or perhaps it is just me. Anger wastes energy, and I am fortunate to have one parent who I know loves me.

(Who knew that 'Pollyanna' could be an insult?)

Either way, I know that I am one of the few who is content with my status. Many, far too many, are not, and those Undetermined who remain bitter about their lack of acknowledgement are being recruited by a group who claim that they will bring down the gods and re-build the world as a better place.

Too many such claims have been made over the centuries – most of the successful ones resulting in tyranny and suffering for the deluded followers – for me to buy into that, and for all my disappointment, I think that the world is better with the gods than without them.

* * *

But I am in the minority, and I know a frightening number who have flocked to the banner of Kronos, the pain of rejection outweighing their common sense.

I am fortunate that everyone expects a daughter of Eirene to be a pacifist – not an unreasonable expectation, and perhaps another strike against my mother claiming me – and Kronos sent nothing worse than a young Hellhound to deal with me when I refused him. Attempting a hostile takeover of the world is enough to keep even a Titan Lord busy, or at least busy enough that he isn't about to contact every potential recruit in person.

I suppose they do not wish to waste resources on a single half-blood, especially when they can simply come back to take care of me once the battle with the gods is over, but for all of my mother's neglect, I will play no part against the gods.

I love my godly parent, even if they do not love me.

 

 

 


	2. Those who joined

It had all seemed so clean-cut, in the beginning.

Make our neglectful parents notice us, since they wouldn't pay any attention if left to their own devices.

Create a new world, where no more demigods would have to fend for themselves with no idea what the monsters were, or why they singled them out to attack.

Recognition, not just for the unclaimed, but also for those who were claimed, but whose parent was not one of the twelve Olympians, and therefore had no cabin for their children.

The Zeus Cabin was not only empty, but massive, and Zeus had fathered roughly half of the minor gods. Why couldn't he – or any of the other Olympians – take in a few of their grandchildren along with their children?

We allowed our hurt and anger to blind us to the other side of the coin.

We had everything to gain if Kronos won, but the Claimed Demigods, our siblings and in some cases friends, had everything to lose. Kronos would not show mercy, and the downside of being claimed – and seeing the number of unclaimed – was an intense desire to make your Godly parent proud of you. To prove that they had not been mistaken in acknowledging you as theirs. More than one demigod had joined Kronos because they were simply tired of nothing they did ever being good enough.

And after we launched that attack on Camp Half-Blood last year… well, I'd lay good money on revenge being a factor here, too.

* * *

But it didn't take long before I pushed doubt and regret aside in favour of rage.

Did the demigods who defended Olympus fight because they felt obligated to protect the throne of the parent who thought that they were good enough to claim? Or did they truly believe that the gods were worth admiring, despite their failure with their unclaimed children?

What was so special about my half-siblings that they were claimed, while I was left to rot in the Hermes Cabin as an un-named bastard?

I remembered a friend, a child of Apollo, who told me that before they were claimed they had enjoyed trying to guess who their parent was, trying to match their own character traits with that of the other cabins. I don't know why she was so pleased to be claimed - the sun god took his own sweet time about it! Most of his kids were claimed within a fortnight of arrival, but she was there almost a year!

Maybe there was some truth to the rumour Cabin Ten spread; about Hermes and Apollo not being sure which of them was the father, but those mental images were more than I wanted to deal with. Ever.

With a personality as sunny as the chariot their father drove, we probably shouldn't have been as surprised as we were at the final answer of who her father was.

* * *

Things were confusing, to put it lightly. Keeping up with current weather wasn't really a huge priority for us, so we hadn't really thought about Typhon. Sure, he had nearly defeated the Olympians before, which put him in my good books, but none of us had really cared one way or the other.

Now… Now it was all going to pieces.

Hades and Poseidon had shown up to help, and managed to chain Typhon. Kronos had gone batshit and removed the spell from most of Manhattan, resulting in mass chaos as thousands of mortals woke up and dried to figure out what was going on. The mist was really going to be getting a workout before all this was over.

Kronos disappeared inside the Empire State Building, followed by a few demigods, and a camper tried to rally the rest of them from where we were all standing around a bit stupidly, wondering what to do next.

He was probably a son of Ares or Apollo.

No one had that kind of voice projection unless you either performed, or spent most of your time shouting anyway. "Percy says that Kronos will regain his form again soon! New orders: try to get as many people as you can away. Focus on the monsters!"

 I heard a loud gasp from nearby. Another unclaimed – though we were pretty sure he was a son of Athena, with the grey eyes, blond hair, and know-it-all attitude – had turned whiter than the Son of Hades. It took a slap from a daughter of Ares (that god had never got past the Ancient Greek mindset of girls not being worth as much of his already minimal attention) to get him functioning again, but he explained what the end result would be.

Looking at the true form of a God would get you incinerated, but Kronos wouldn't even need you to look.

He would simply incinerate everything, without caring if they had fought for him, or against him, or were just innocent bystanders. At first I couldn't believe it, but the Children of Athena never lie when it comes to knowledge.

I said something that made a daughter of Aphrodite gasp, looking scandalized, then turned and plunged my spear into the nearest monster.

Kronos had lied to us! He had played on our insecurity and used us!

He had promised a new and better world, but had never intended for us to live long enough to see it!

Through the red haze, I could see the other demigods join me, coming to the same conclusion as I had, and if felt as though something was falling into place. This was where we belonged: standing side by side with our siblings, our fellow demigods. United as one.

Don't get me wrong; I still think that the gods can go screw themselves (preferable with a fork) for the way they abandoned us, but demigods already have the world against them from the moment they draw breath, we should never have added each other to the long list of things that already want to kill us.

Maybe, if we all survive, we can work something out. A truce, while we decide where to go from here.

If the Gods win, they might be in a good enough mood to be merciful, and hand out rewards to the campers. Surely someone in the Hermes Cabin would ask that the gods start claiming their kids, if only to be able to roll over in the night without flattening three other campers.

It's a thought.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The Unclaimed Demigods have always interested me, and the second chapter will be a follow-up on the thoughts of a Demigod who did join Kronos, if there is enough interest. We know – thanks to Luke, Ethan etc – what the demigods who joined Kronos thought, but I always wondered about the ones who didn't join him, and this is my attempt at portraying that.


End file.
